Marty's Marketing Musings:
Superbowl Ads Are Expensive
But Tickets Aren't Cheap

by Marty Bernstein
Editor-at-Large
The Auto Channel

A :30-second commercial during the game is averaging $4,800 to $6,000 depending when the time was purchased and where in the broadcast the ad will run. But in contrast the price of attending the game in person is even more astronomical in price.

When what is now known as Super Bowl I in 1967, the average cost of a new home was less than $25,000. A new car cost about $2,750. Admission to the movies was just $1.20 and tickets for the very first Super Bowl topped out at $12.

But that's nothing compared to the Super Bowl 50 this Sunday. The priciest ticket’s face value for Sunday's big game between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers are selling range from $850 to $1,800, although prime "club seats" that include extra amenities cost as much as $3,000. The NFL also made 1,000 seats available for $500 each through a fan lottery for $500 each.

But nobody buys at face value.

The average price of a ticket is $4,957, according to ticket tracking site SeatGeek. Thus it’s the most expensive ticket for a sports event ever surpassing the $4,672 average ticket price for the May, 2015 Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, which is currently the most expensive sporting ticket on record. It's also more than the $4,271 average ticket price for last year's Super Bowl, which set a record for the big game.

According to CBS he most expensive tickets sold for Sunday's game so far were a pair of seats near the 50-yard line, which went for $20,500 each. Now that’s a fan.

© 2016 MB, Inc.